Forest Products Industry

It's been a pretty great week for Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) shareholders, with its shares surging 15% to...

Several events with market-moving potential will test markets this week.

At the end of the day, investors want to see returns. To accomplish this goal, seasoned Wall Street observers often turn to one strategy time and time again: growth investing. A solid growth play is a name that appears poised to not only grow at an above-average rate but also reward investors handsomely over the long run.Rolling up their sleeves, investors are pounding the Wall Street pavement in search of the tickers with impressive long-term growth prospects. However, having a target in mind is one thing, but zeroing in on these stocks primed for stellar gains in the coming years is another story entirely. This task also isn’t made any easier by the fact that 2019 saw the S&P 500 post its largest yearly gain since 2013, closing the year up 29% and starting out 2020 with an increase of 2%.Luckily, TipRanks, a company that tracks and measures the performance of analysts, can lend investors a hand. After using the platform’s Stock Screener tool during our own search, we were able to unmask 3 Buy-rated stocks flagged by the analysts for their strong long-term growth narratives. On top of this, each boasts substantial upside potential from the current share price.Here’s the full scoop.Global Blood Therapeutics Inc. (GBT)Global Blood Therapeutics is focused on developing treatments for underserved patient communities. With one therapy for sickle cell disease, a group of disorders that impacts hemoglobin in blood cells, already approved and another candidate for the disease in development, some analysts believe that its 94% gain in 2019 is just the beginning.Back in November, the company got some good news when the FDA granted its lead candidate, Oxbryta, accelerated approval for use in adults and children 12 years and older with sickle cell disease based on the results of the pivotal Phase 3 HOPE study. In the study, the drug was able to produce a rapid, potent and durable improvement in hemoglobin. With the ruling coming three months before the original PDUFA date, it’s no wonder Wall Street pros are excited. To top it all off, the label for Oxbryta is clean and broad, and the therapy can be administered alone or in combination with hydroxyurea.H.C. Wainwright’s Debjit Chattopadhyay does remind investors that the company is still required to continue the HOPE-KIDS 2 study to demonstrate decreased risk of stroke in children 2 to 15 years old. That being said, the four-star analyst expects the results to be similar to the HOPE Phase 3 program findings. “Additionally, because the HOPE-KIDS 2 study is enrolling patients as young as 2 years of age, data could be leveraged for label expansion to treat patients under 12,” Chattopadhyay commented.As the analyst sees the drug’s U.S. sales reaching $1.2 billion in 2024, it makes sense that he reiterated both a Buy rating and $150 price target. Should the target be met, shares could be in for a 105% twelve-month gain. (To watch Chattopadhyay’s track record, click here)Like Chattopadhyay, Wedbush analyst Liana Moussatos takes a bullish approach. With no price increases expected for three years and little to no competition anticipated from Novartis’ recently released ADAKVEO antibody treatment for sickle cell disease, the analyst thinks the market opportunity is large. Bearing this in mind, she bumped up the price target from $120 to $143 in addition to maintaining her bullish call. (To watch Moussatos’ track record, click here)In terms of the rest of the Street, a majority of analysts also see GBT as a Buy, 13 out of 16 to be exact. As a result, the consensus rating is a Strong Buy. Given the $102.20 average price target, the upside potential lands at 40%. (See Global Blood Therapeutics stock analysis on TipRanks) Zynga Inc. (ZNGA)Zynga is best known for being the force behind wildly popular games such as “Words With Friends”, “Empires & Puzzles” and “Merge Dragon”. After posting an impressive 70% climb in 2019, does the video game developer still have more fuel left in the tank?According to SunTrust Robinson’s Matthew Thornton, the answer is yes. In his initiation note, the analyst points out that the already large gaming market, which was worth about $83 billion in 2019, is still expanding, with a 5-year 2018-2023 CAGR of 9.9%. He tells investors the companies that can prosper in this competitive and fragmented environment will be those with platform-exposure to the market, publishers with unique franchises or IP, network scale and ability to fund and execute robust live services, pipeline development and M&A. Based on this, Thornton has high hopes for ZNGA.“ZNGA provides pure-play exposure to the large and fast growing global mobile gaming market with a growing (31% pro forma in 3Q19, driven by Merge Dragons and Empires & Puzzles) and diversified existing game portfolio and highly experienced management team and Board. In addition to a healthy existing portfolio, ZNGA has a strong pipeline (at least 7 games, including FarmVille, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Game of Thrones, and others) as well as a strong balance sheet and acquisition track record to augment organic growth with M&A in what is a highly fragmented market,” he wrote.Taking all of this into consideration, the four-star analyst puts the 2-year 2019-2021 revenue and EBITDA CAGR at 13% and 18%, respectively. Not to mention the company is also expected to surpass consensus estimates over the next few years.In line with his bullish thesis, Thornton started his ZNGA coverage with a Buy recommendation. In addition, he set a $7.50 price target, indicating that shares could surge 23% in the next twelve months. (To watch Thornton’s track record, click here)Looking at the consensus breakdown, 6 Buys, 1 Hold and 1 Sell published in the last three months add up to a Moderate Buy. With a $7.50 average price target, the upside potential matches Thornton’s forecast. (See Zynga stock analysis on TipRanks) FTI Consulting, Inc. (FCN)Operating as a global business advisory firm, FTI Consulting offers its clients transactional, operational, financial, legal and reputational services. In 2019, the company saw shares climb 66% higher, and one analyst is betting that this run can continue in 2020.SunTrust Robinson’s Tobey Sommer argues that for the first time in its history, FTI has created a sustainable organic growth firm that constantly adds new employees so that it can offer “adjacent services”. Among these new services are business transformation, public affairs, cyber and global construction disputes. “We believe that FCN should be able to hire a steady stream of experienced talent from Big 4 accounting firms in Europe who are worried that emerging regulatory scrutiny will conflict them out of work from key relationships,” he noted.Additionally, Sommer cites several key upcoming catalysts as putting FCN on an upward trajectory. He thinks that fourth quarter revenue and EBITDA should beat the Street’s estimates, with the midpoint for initial 2020 guidance falling in line with expectations.He added, “From the initial guidance, we expect material upside results throughout the year propelled by headcount growth (year-over-year consultant headcount rose 17% in 3Q19), pricing could increase above trend and regulatory investigations into global tech firms could drive antitrust work.”It’s no surprise, then, that the five-star analyst stayed with the bulls, leaving the Buy rating unchanged. If that wasn’t enough, he gave the price target a boost, increasing the figure from $130 to $155. This bolstered target conveys his confidence in FCN’s ability to jump 31% in the twelve months ahead. (To watch Sommer’s track record, click here)When it comes to other analyst activity, it has been relatively quiet on Wall Street. As Sommer is the only analyst that has reviewed FCN recently, the word on the Street is that the stock is a Moderate Buy. The average price target and upside potential are also the same as the SunTrust Robinson analyst’s. (See FTI Consulting stock analysis on TipRanks)

(Bloomberg) -- Most Middle Eastern equity gauges dropped at the start of the trading week, following losses in global markets on Friday as the coronavirus emanating from China spread.Saudi Arabian stocks fell the most among Gulf peers. Energy giant Aramco traded at its lowest level on a closing basis since its listing in Riyadh during the session but pared some of the losses at close. The world’s most profitable company dropped 0.4% to 34.30 riyals.“There might be more to this downward trend” globally, Ali Malik, an investment adviser at Bank of Singapore Ltd., said in a Bloomberg TV interview on Sunday. But past viral outbreaks have shown that “as soon as the new instances stop getting reported, we see a bounce back,” he said.MIDDLE EASTERN MARKETS:Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index slipped 0.7%Saudi Basic Industries -1.2%; Al Rajhi Bank -0.6%Dubai’s main index dropped 0.6% while Abu Dhabi’s ADX General Index declined 0.3%Emirates NBD was the biggest contributor to the loss in the DFM General Index as it slipped 0.7%, the most in six daysREAD: Emirates NBD Sells NMC Stake Weeks After Muddy WatersKuwait’s stock market fell 0.5% while the QE Index in Doha dropped 0.4%Israel’s main index is down 1% as of 2:20 p.m. local time, the most in the region, ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s planned release of a Middle East peace proposalEarnings ahead: Emirates NBD, First Abu Dhabi Bank and Dubai Islamic Bank are expected to report earnings in the U.A.E. this week, while Sabic and Maaden should disclose in Saudi ArabiaTo contact the reporter on this story: Abeer Abu Omar in Dubai at aabuomar@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Lin Noueihed at lnoueihed@bloomberg.net, Paul Wallace, Sara MarleyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Oil succumbed to the coronavirus this week because its immune system was compromised already. Amid headlines about quarantined Chinese cities and dozens of potential cases showing up in the U.S., Brent crude closed on Friday at $60 and change, its lowest since Halloween. This is all the more remarkable when you consider January has seen  several geopolitical shocks stretching from Libya to Iraq.Like the outbreak itself, oil’s problems began in December with a fever of its own. Relief at a sudden truce in the U.S.-China trade war sparked a rally taking oil from about $62 a barrel close to $70 by the end of that month. Speculators, in retreat for much of 2019, suddenly piled in again. Hedge funds’ net length in the major crude and product contracts surged from less than 600 million barrels-equivalent to almost 900 million between early December and early January. On a rolling four-week basis, December saw the sharpest increase in long positions in my entire data series going back to the start of 2011 (and net length increased at its fastest rate in more than two years).You’ll notice the fever began to break a little earlier this month. Friday’s report from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed net length dropped by 63 million barrels-equivalent, or 7%, in the two weeks after January 7.But the way the fever subsided revealed continuing vulnerability. After all, prices dropped even as the killing of Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani threatened to unleash chaos in one of the world’s biggest oil-producing countries, Iraq, and Libya’s tensions flared up again, blocking its oil exports. And this comes mere months after the collective shrugging-off of September’s attack on Saudi Arabia’s Abqaiq oil-processing facility. Besides fever, listlessness is also the hallmark of a sick patient.So why has the oil market reacted strongly in response to coronavirus reports but not in the other direction when rockets are exploding in the Middle East?There is likely a technical factor at play. Energy economist Phil Verleger points out oil producers such as Occidental Petroleum Corp. took advantage of the speculative rally to hedge their 2020 output. You can see this in the roughly 140 million barrel-equivalent expansion of swap dealers’ net short position in Nymex light sweet crude between early December and early January, a proxy for hedging activity by producers. As oil prices decline, particularly toward such key levels as $60 in Brent and $55 in WTI, so the banks that wrote the puts sell futures to manage their own exposure — a self-reinforcing spiral similar to what appeared to happen in the oil rout that closed out 2018.Underlying this is the basic problem that has dogged the oil market for five years: excess supply and inventories relative to demand. The continuing OPEC+ cuts that got everyone excited back in 2016 are the surest sign of this chronic condition; but there are others, such as unusually subdued U.S. gasoline demand.No one can accurately quantify what impact the coronavirus outbreak will have on oil prices. Novel diseases can ultimately amount to little or spark pandemics, with much in between. And the impact on oil demand, at least in the near term, has more to do with perceptions of infectiousness and what that does to travel and regular interaction rather than fatalities per se.Oil traders are as much in the dark on the ultimate course of this as anyone. Meanwhile, on the supply side, they know there is spare capacity, a demonstrated Saudi pledge to maintain supply even if bombed and a U.S. fracking industry that is bowed but, if goaded enough price-wise, tends to produce more rather than less. In other words, the ceiling is in sharper focus than the floor right now. To contact the authors of this story: Liam Denning at ldenning1@bloomberg.netMark Gongloff at mgongloff1@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.Liam Denning is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering energy, mining and commodities. He previously was editor of the Wall Street Journal's Heard on the Street column and wrote for the Financial Times' Lex column. He was also an investment banker.Mark Gongloff is an editor with Bloomberg Opinion. He previously was a managing editor of Fortune.com, ran the Huffington Post's business and technology coverage, and was a columnist, reporter and editor for the Wall Street Journal.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) stock is about to trade ex-dividend in 4 days time. Ex-dividend means that investors that...

A combination of long-liquidation and short-selling is driving prices lower so I don’t expect smart buyers to just step in front of the downside momentum.

The early direction on Monday will be determined by trader reaction to the short-term 50% level at $1581.20.

(Bloomberg Opinion) -- The heart of America’s oil renaissance is found in the Permian basin, which is showing signs of maturing fast. And for shale basins, that’s not a good thing. If the rich petroleum region wanes, U.S. oil independence will remain elusive and the OPEC cartel may finally see off its greatest threat.The Permian, spread across west Texas and southeast New Mexico, yields more than a third of all U.S. oil production and it has contributed about two-thirds of the past three years’ worth of growth. Its boom has allowed America to export more than 3 million barrels a day of crude on a regular basis since May — more than every OPEC country except Saudi Arabia and Iraq. But the U.S. still imports twice that volume. A slowdown in the Permian would see that gap widen again.Output from the region, where oil was first discovered by W.H. Abrams a century ago with a well that produced just 10 barrels a day, is hitting new heights. Production has continued to grow in recent months despite a drop in the number of rigs drilling in the basin, which fell by 17% last year, according to data from the Energy Information Administration, as the chart above shows. But that cannot last forever.The latest edition of the EIA’s Drilling Productivity Report, published on Tuesday, shows that the Permian rig count fell to 402 in December, down from 485 a year earlier. Partly offsetting that decline, operators are getting more new oil per rig. But the chart below shows that the biggest increases in efficiency coincided with the steepest declines in the rig count — suggesting the improvement came through a renewed focus on the most productive parts of the play, rather than some technical breakthrough. Those strong gains have not been sustained.The report also breaks out production from new wells — those in their first full month of operation — and legacy production from all of the rest. This is particularly important in the shale deposits because of the rapid drop in output once a well is brought into use. Production from new wells has to more than offset the declines from a growing number of older wells for overall output to grow.The EIA data allow us to generate production profiles under various assumptions about rig counts, new well production rates and legacy-well declines. The results are worrying for those depending on ever-growing Permian output.Here are the basic parameters I used to generate production profiles:Legacy-well production decline: The EIA shows production from legacy wells falling by 277,000 barrels a day in January. The figure increased at an average rate of 3,500 barrels each month over the previous year, and I have applied that going forward. So the projected decline in February is 280,500 barrels a day, in March it is 284,000, and so on. Rig count: I have used three different rig counts. One is flat at 400 rigs from January, the second increases the count by 5 rigs per month to reach 447 by September and is then flat at 450 rigs thereafter. The third sees the rig count continuing to fall by three per month until April, before stabilizing at 390. New production: This is either assumed to stay constant at 810 new barrels per rig, or — in the most optimistic case — to rise by five barrels per month. That’s broadly in line with the average increase of 6 barrels per rig per month seen in 2019.Combinations of those parameters give the four production profiles shown in the chart below.With the rig count flat at 400 units and the average new output per rig at 810 barrels a day — where we are now — Permian basin production will peak in just over a year’s time, in Feb. 2021. After that it will start to fall at an accelerating rate as the burden of legacy-well declines continues to grow. If the rig count falls by just 10 more units by this April, the peak will occur this year. Before anyone starts shouting that this is too gloomy, the outlook is perfectly compatible with the views of the companies such as EOG Resources Inc., Pioneer Natural Resources Co. and Diamondback Energy Inc., which see their output growing by 12% or more this year. Even in the most pessimistic case above, the year-on-year increase in production in 2020 is 12.7%.The dominant position of the Permian means that other shale basins will struggle to offset its decline. The peak may be delayed by the trove of drilled, but uncompleted wells — known as DUCs — which now stands at over 3,600 in the Permian. They can be brought into production without the need for rigs, but that stockpile is already being drawn down to support production growth.Even when the Permian does peak, the U.S. will remain a major oil producer and a significant exporter. But OPEC oil ministers will breathe a sigh of relief at the first sign that the shale gale may be starting to blow itself out.To contact the author of this story: Julian Lee at jlee1627@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Melissa Pozsgay at mpozsgay@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.Julian Lee is an oil strategist for Bloomberg. Previously he worked as a senior analyst at the Centre for Global Energy Studies.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

Halfway through a dinner at the Trump Hotel, U.S. President Donald Trump can be heard giving the order to remove the U.S ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, according to a video that surfaced on Saturday. The video, obtained by Reuters from Lev Parnas' attorney Joseph Bondy, begins with Trump posing for photos then entering a room with a table set for 15 including a close-up of the president's place setting. Trump has said he had the right to fire Yovanovitch, a main figure in the series of events that led to his impeachment.

U.S mortgage rates fell to 13-week lows in the week ending 23rd January, with the spread of the coronavirus driving demand for Treasuries.

Hong Kong's popular amusement parks Disneyland and Ocean Park are closed from Jan. 26 to help prevent the spread of a deadly coronavirus that broke out in the Chinese city Wuhan, state media CCTV reported on Sunday. Business is going on as usual at the hotels inside Hong Kong Disneyland, however, CCTV reported. The Shanghai government said on Friday that Shanghai Disneyland will be closed from Saturday.

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Electric vehicle startup Rivian on Saturday displayed its pickup truck and SUV at an event in San Francisco's Bay Area and said that when their prices are unveiled soon they will be lower than has been previously announced. Rivian founder and chief executive R.J. Scaringe told Reuters the mid-range R1T pickup truck with a glass sky panel that can change from blue to clear was about $69,000. Scaringe declined to say how many prospective buyers have so far spent $1,000 on a refundable deposit to hold their spot for a Rivian, but he said the reaction had been "really positive".

(Bloomberg) -- Rivian Automotive Inc., the electric-truck startup backed by Amazon.com Inc. and Ford Motor Co., will provide the “skateboard” platform for a premium, high-performance electric Ford vehicle, its top executive said.“In Ford’s case, we provide the platform.” Rivian Chief Executive Officer R. J. Scaringe said in an interview on Saturday. “They will provide the top hat, the body and the interior.”The “skateboard” is the entire platform, including the motor, battery pack, computer systems and wheels. The design is modular and allows for different vehicle body types to be added on top. Rivian is seeking partnerships to scale and grow beyond its own consumer electric vehicle offering.Ford invested in Rivian in April and announced its intention to build a vehicle using Rivian’s technology. Scaringe declined to comment on the vehicle class or design, and didn’t confirm which party would assemble the final Ford vehicle or give a date for its release.Pickup and SUV“We have confirmed we are working with Rivian on a vehicle which we have not yet announced,” Ford spokeswoman Emma Bergg said on Saturday. “We do not comment on future products.”Rivian’s own R1T electric pick-up and R1S electric SUV are scheduled to go into production this year at its plant in Normal, Illinois, southwest of Chicago. The company hasn’t disclosed pre-order numbers but has said it’s “very happy” with demand for its own cars.Rivian is also building a fleet of electric delivery vehicles for Amazon which are expected to launch in September 2021. It’s part of a strategy of diversifying the company’s revenues and to “build volume and profitability,” even if consumer appetite wanes or there’s an economic downturn, Scaringe said.Rivian’s own vehicles, sold directly to consumers, are still expected to account for the majority of its revenue. The projects with Ford and Amazon aren’t affecting production of those vehicles.In December, Rivian raised $1.3 billion from investors led by T. Rowe Price, taking its total raised last year to $2.85 billion. There are no plans to raise additional funds for now and the company is “well financed,” Scaringe said, adding that capital requirements are sizable to continue the company’s growth and accelerate toward production.Rivian on Saturday gave pre-order customers in its most important market an early taste of what they can expect. It held an outdoors-inspired event in the Bay Area city of Mill Valley, north of San Francisco.Ahead of launching its consumer electric vehicles, the company is planning to open physical stores in the Bay Area and other cities in California, which Scaringe describes as Rivian’s “biggest market by far.” It’s also working on a subscription offering, including insurance coverage, and digital platforms for direct sales to its customers.“The first vehicles off the production line will be going to places where they can be sold,” which means starting in California, Scaringe said. “Rapidly, we’ll be building out across the country.“And of course the plant being in Midwest, we would like to allow people to take delivery of the vehicles at the plant as well,” he said.To contact the reporter on this story: Ed Ludlow in San Francisco at eludlow2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Craig Trudell at ctrudell1@bloomberg.net, Ros Krasny, Tony CzuczkaFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

The recalled products should be thrown out or returned to the place of purchase, the United States Department of Agriculture says.

Boeing Co began the maiden flight on Saturday of the world's largest twin-engined jetliner as the embattled planemaker steps up competition with European rival Airbus in a respite from a crisis over its smaller 737 MAX. The 777X, a larger and more efficient version of Boeing's successful 777 mini-jumbo, took off outside Seattle at 10:09 a.m. local time (1.09 p.m. ET) after high winds forced the company to postpone two earlier attempts this week. Boeing officials said the maiden voyage would last 3-5 hours and herald months of testing and certification before the aircraft enters service with Emirates in 2021, a year later than originally scheduled because of snags during development.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Saturday he had learnt the hard way to be guarded in his comments on the dollar after roiling financial markets in 2018 by breaking from the usual language about the currency. Two years ago at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Mnuchin sent the U.S. currency reeling when he said he welcomed a weak dollar. "One of the things I've clearly learned as treasury secretary, I'm very careful about my comments on the dollar, because two years ago in Davos, I sneezed, and I said something that I thought was completely calm, and all of a sudden the markets went crazy," he told the audience.